Turn Around
by brightbrightmoon
Summary: When Fionna decides to leave her life behind to settle the things she needs to settle, everyone in AAA feels lost without their favourite adventuress... except maybe Marshall Lee. The story revolves around the choices Fi makes to come to the descision of leaving and the part Marshall plays in those. Rated T for language and violence right now, but may be rated M in the future.
1. Prologue

_DISCLAIMER: I do not own the right to any of these characters. Adventure Time is property of Pendleton Ward and Cartoon Network._

Turn Around

 **Prologue**

Before finally turning around, I kiss her crown. She's sleeping tight, but nonetheless I try to make no sound. Cake's hearing is more than excellent, as fit for a cat, and accidentally waking her up might not be the best idea. I glance upon our good old tree home one more time. To think this is where it all started… Not gonna lie, I'll miss this place. It's been my home for so long, and to be honest, even thinking of leaving it for more than a week makes me homesick. Actually, I suspect the homesickness might have more to do with leaving Cake behind than with leaving the tree house behind... But there's no other choice now. I can't take Cake with me. It's to dangerous.

While silently opening the front door, I feel a light pull on my blue skirt. I look down. "BMO!" I whisper as loudly as I can without feeling anxious about Cake waking up. "Fionna?" BMO asks in his characteristic, choppy voice. "What are you doing? Isn't it too late for you to go out on your own?" Well shit. I should've come up with an excuse before even thinking of opening the damn door. "Well, yes it is, but I'm going on an adventure for Gumball and it's something that can only be done at midnight, so…" "But why isn't Cake going with you?" BMO seems curious rather than suspicious. "It's a surprise! You know how it's almost Cake's 35th birthday? Gumball and I thought it'd be a good idea to do something special for her." BMO nods his head, but he still seems confused. "What's this thing that you need to go out for at…" I interrupt him hastily. "Like I said, it's a surprise! We never know if you might spill the beans during game time!" "But…" I put one of my hands on the door, the other one on top of BMO. "Look BMO, it's really time for me to go now. It's almost midnight." I plant a kiss on his head, right next to where my hand is. "You'll find out soon enough what Cake's present is, and then I'll tell you all about how Gumball and I put it together. But for now, it's a surprise. See you tomorrow?" BMO seems satisfied. He nods again, and waves me goodbye as I open the door and walk out into the darkness. It feels wrong to lie to BMO, but as it is, there's no other way to get myself out of the treehouse and into the night without causing ruckus.  
Or perhaps out of my comfort zone and right into danger is a better way to put it.

 _Hi everyone!  
Well, so that's a start __  
First of all, let me introduce myself. My name is Sanne, but you can call me Bright Moon or BM. I'm currently sixteen years old and I'm from the Netherlands. This is my first fanfic, but I've tried to write a few stories some times before, so it's not like I'm starting at the lowest bottom of bottoms. I've wanted to write one for quite some time now, so here it is!  
Then, I might have to elaborate on a few things. The first point is about BMO. He is mentioned quite a few times already in the first chapter, and you may have noticed how I refer to BMO as _he _. I know that, canonically, BMO is gender fluid, but I've chosen to make him male because him switching gender all the time and having to explain that would make the story very confusing.  
The second point is about my writing style for the characters in their gender bent form. This is not particularly about the part you've read already. There are two sources from which the personality of the gender bent AT characters can be taken: the 3 episodes from the TV series and the comic series written by Natasha Allegri. They're a bit different from each other in the sense that in the comics, Fionna interacts a lot less awkward and blushy with Gumball and Marshall than in the cartoons. Also, in the cartoons Gumball and Marshall are practically allergic to each other, and in the comic they are friends. Personally, I like the style of the comic better, but even though I'll maybe lean on that a bit more, I'll incorporate a major part of the cartoons too.  
Now that's out of the way, I hope you'll have fun reading Turn Around! (And sorry for the awfully long introduction...)_

 _xx - BM_


	2. PanCakes and pear pie

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the rights to any of these characters. Adventure Time is property of Pendleton Ward and Cartoon Network.

 **Pan-Cakes and Pear pie**

 _Seven years ago_

The sound of whistling birds and the annoyed roar of some catlike animal wake me from my sleep. I take a look around the bedroom from my ridiculously comfy double sized bed and rub my still heavy eyes. I decide to go downstairs to see what my stepsister is up to: you can tell from her empty bed that she's already awake. I slip into my socks, skirt and t-shirt and take my bunny hat from the drawer in which we store our battle axes.

As I climb down the ladder, trying to get my hair into my hat, my nose catches a delicious scent. I walk in on Cake right as she's flipping over a bacon pancake and glance over my sister's shoulder. She's wearing the crimson red bracelet she got for her birthday last week from her boyfriend, Lord Monochromicorn. The bracelet has a plate on it in which her name is engraved in Morse code.  
"Cake, I'm pretty sure that's not how you bake pancakes." Cake gives me an annoyed glance in return for my questioning of her cooking skills. "Hush now baby, that's an old family recipe and you know it. _I'm_ pretty sure I'm doing it just fine." I can't help but smile. Cake is a bit of a know-it-all, and she's aware of what she wants more than anyone I ever met, but she's also one of the most fun and nice people I know. Added bonus: she's a damn fine adventurer.

"You know that's not what I mean, Cakey. I meant that you don't flip them high enough. They'll taste less adventurous." Cake laughs at my mediocre attempt at a joke and bumps her hips into mine as I open up a cupboard to get the maple syrup. "Yeah, and we're sure gonna need some adventure in our breakfast if we wanna be at our best today now, don't we? What mission did Gumball give us today anyways, baby?"  
I grab some cups and a bottle of juice from another cupboard and walk towards the dining table, helping BMO out on the way by grabbing one of the plates he's struggling to carry. "He wants us to gather some kind of magic flower. It's somewhere near Tree Trunks' place I think? In that dark forest he keeps wandering off into?" Cake slides the last bacon pancake onto the plate with all the other pancakes, takes it to the table with her and sits down. She nods. "I think I know what place you're talking about. Shouldn't take us too long to get that, won't it? We'll be back before nighttime and we might even have a chance to get hold on one of them famous pear pies of Tree Trunks'." As she's speaking, Cake slides two bacon pancakes on plates and hands them to BMO and me. I cover mine in maple syrup and take a big bite.  
These bacon pancakes are legendary. More than legendary. Our family (or should I say Cake's, because I'm adopted) has been optimizing the recipe for over two centuries and it's known by all of AAA for its rich flavour and deliciously crispy edges. Even Prince Gumball, quite picky when it comes to food being a fine cook himself, comes over sometimes just to eat a pancake or two.

"Does anyone want some pear juice?" I ask. "I didn't take it all the way from the kitchen just to have it stand there." Cake raises her paw and I pour some juice in a glass for her. She immediately takes a sip. "Didn't you get that bottle from Tree Trunks at Mrs. Pig's house warming party?" says BMO. "That's right. We should definitely hop by on the way to thank him then" confirms Cake. She finishes her pear juice and lets out a big sigh of satisfaction. Then she stands up. "Wait Cake," I say, pouring a glass for myself too. "Take some more juice. We should just drink up the whole bottle. That way we can take it back to Tree Trunks." Cake sits down and sighs again. "Alright then baby Cakes."

Cake is in her enlarged form and we're heading towards Tree Trunks' place. Sometimes, Cake ties a large piece of fabric around her waist and puts me in it, which is very comfortable, but today I'm just sitting on top of her as she runs.

Cake has shapeshifting powers. That means she can change her body into any shape she wants, no matter how big, small, pointy or smooth it is. When I'm sad, she sometimes does a thing where she makes herself look like a big pile of poo to make me laugh, and when it's really cold out, she changes into a sweater to keep me warm. Her powers are awfully handy when we go adventuring: we can get anywhere we want in no time if she makes herself bigger, when she needs to hide she just compresses herself and she glides through the forest with ease by becoming all long and thin like a snake.

After a minute or 10, I can see Tree Trunks' cute little house over the trees. The clearing on which he lives is surrounded by a peaceful pear tree forest, but as you walk deeper into it, it gets darker and darker. Tree Trunks goes into the forest every day to collect pears, but Cake and I have had to save him from one or the other dangerous creature countless times before because he is generally very messily minded.

I knock on the front door and hear a muffled muttering that's probably about a pie that's getting out of the oven right this moment. After a minute, Tree Trunks opens the door. "Oh, hello there!" he says, pleasantly surprised. "How's it going with my favorite human and shapeshifting cat?" I smile brightly at him. Tree Trunks is like a very sweet and very, _very_ confused old grandpa. "We're good Trunks," says Cake, "we brought you the empty bottle of the pear juice you gave us last week." Tree Trunks takes the bottle in his trunk and takes it inside. "Would you two like a freshly baked piece of pear pie?"

With full tummies, we leave Tree Trunks to go and gather the magic flower Gumball asked us to find. "Do you know exactly where it is?" asks Cake. I shake my head. "Gumball said it would be about a fifteen minute walk headed east if we walk at a normal pace. It's somewhere near a star shaped cave." On the way to the place Gumball described, I pick a big handful of wild berries and give some to Cake. When we arrive at the cave, we agree to split up to look for the flower: Cake will explore north of the Cave and I'll go south. I tell Cake that the flower should be spotted, star shaped like the cave it grows near to, have a long, dark green stem and a deep red colour.

As I'm looking around for the flower in bushes next to a rock with a star on it, I hear a scream. It's Cake's voice. I grab my sword as fast as I can and run towards the sound, dropping the berries I had left. "Cake!" I scream when I see what's wrong. A four meter tall, demon-like creature is hunched over Cakes unconscious body and its long, bony fingers are stretched out towards Cake's arm. When it hears me, it turns around. Seen from the front, the monster looks a bit like a bat. It has violent, red, almond-shaped eyes, gigantic fangs and frayed black wings. I run towards it, my sword at the ready, looking right into its eyes.

The demon seems startled at first, but it evades my move at its chest smoothly and starts the counterattack. It lashes its sharp nails at me and manages to scratch my leg as I scurry away from it. I try to get a little closer to get a better reach and suddenly, its eyes turn black and it freezes. I take the moment to swing my sword at it, and I manage to make a cut appear across its chest. The feeling of relief I feel is short-lived however, because the demon seems to possess some kind of healing ability: the cut disappears as fast as it showed up. As if that on its own isn't enough of a problem already, the demon has recovered from its frozen state. It immediately starts dashing around so fast that I can't follow it with my eyes anymore until I can't see it at all. Then, I feel a warm breath in my neck. "Turn around," whispers a smooth, male voice. I follow its instructions.

The demon looks at me and I find myself unable to look away or move as I stare into his eyes. A sense of numbness comes up in my chest, and I can't do anything but watch his black, black eyes as I slowly fade away into unconsciousness.

I wake up in front of the star-shaped cave, and to my relief I find Cake lying right beside me. When I look around, I notice something strange. Next to me, on the opposite side of Cake, are three objects: Cake's bracelet, one of the berries I picked earlier and the magic flower. The weird thing is: all three of them are grey.

 _Hi everyone!  
Here's the next chapter.  
_ _Oh, and it might be nice to know Fionna's age. In the first chapter, Fi is 20 years old. In this one, seven years earlier, she is therefore 13. Cake's age you already know and there's not much of interest about the ages of the other main characters: the only thing you need to know is that they're very, very old and don't really count their years anymore because of that.  
Half of the story will revolve around the period in between these two ages of Fionna's and the other is about what happens after. We'll switch from _between _to_ after _ever chapter, so next chapter will be about what happens after._

 _xx BM_


	3. Thank you

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the rights to any of these characters. Adventure Time is property of Pendleton Ward and Cartoon Network.

 **Thank you**

 _Now_

While walking to the place Marshall and me agreed to meet, I realize I've grown so used to going everywhere with Cake that I barely walk anywhere on my own anymore. Though I've outgrown the piece of cloth Cake used to put me in when we went somewhere, she almost always carries me on her back, and let me tell you, you travel an awful lot faster that way.

Unfortunately, the route that leads to the meeting point has me go awfully close to the Candy Kingdom. Prince Gumball isn't that perceptive when it's past 10 o'clock in the evening (he needs his beauty sleep) and the Gumball Guardians and the Banana Guards won't be surprised to find me near the kingdom, but it still makes me uncomfortable to even set a foot near the place I'm betraying. Well, maybe betraying is too harsh a way to put it. Technically speaking, the only thing I'm doing to the Candy People is leaving them. Though that seems like a small form of betrayal on its own…

While getting lost in my thoughts, I don't notice I've gotten so near to the Candy Kingdom already that I can almost count the amount of gumballs in the guardians' heads. When I see a Banana Guard wave at me, my heartbeat raises and I have to stand still for a moment because of the sheer tension that's in my body.  
Is it really a good idea for me to leave OOO with Marshall to find my mom when I get a headache just by thinking of leaving _home_? And what's it with me and these stupid headaches anyway? I've been away from home before, I've been away from OOO before, and I've been away from Cake before too. Is it the combination of the three? Am I just not ready to leave Gumball, Flame Prince and the others behind?  
This is bullshit. Even if I'm going to leave my friends here, it won't be forever. Once I find my mom, I'll take her back here and introduce her to everyone and everything will be fine. I'll live with Marshall and Cake and maybe even mom, and my life will be better than I ever hoped it would be before.  
Or is it not that simple?

I wave back at the guard and start walking a bit faster. I try to tell myself it is because I've got to hurry, but I know very well that I'm just scared to face the fear that's slumbering in the outskirts of my mind. Being in a hurry would actually be a legitimate reason though: I don't want to make Marshall wait too long. It was my idea not to meet in his cave or in the Tree House, because that would make it easier to track us down and find out where we went. Cake would never remember the place we first met Marshall, because she doesn't even know that's the place we did, and Nova Cave is not an obvious meeting point to an outsider, so to me it seemed like the perfect spot. Marshy only agreed because I gave him the puppy eyes though.  
But who am I kidding with these excuses. Those eyes would get me out of everything in which Marshall is involved, so I don't have to worry about being on time at all. Also, he knows I'll be somewhat slower without Cakey there to carry me, so he'll probably expect me to take a bit longer, and moreover, he's assured me that I don't have to push myself to be on time when we were planning this thing like two thousand times.  
The only reason I'm hurrying, is _worrying_ too much.

As my mind finds track of yet another trail of desperate thoughts, I realize it's useless to overthink. We arranged this perfectly and there's no need to worry at all. If everything goes according to plan, we'll be back in less than a month. And if it doesn't, it won't take too much longer either. I'm in good hands with Marshall and I know that. He's more than a bit concerned with my safety but he also respects the fact that I can stand my own ground. He even likes to go on adventures and fight together with me.

I pass the last pink tree and know I can't be far from Nova now. The cave is quite close to Tree Trunks', but I'm more than sure I won't have to be concerned about that: Tree Trunks is an even heavier sleeper than Prince Gumball, and Mrs. Pig and the kids are out for a few days to meet with a part of her family that lives in the southernmost part of OOO.

I push away a few grey flowers (at first they were red, but Marshall came here so often during lunchtime, that they just started to grow grey after a while) and see Marshall lean against a tree near the opening of the cave. His hair is slightly tousled and the casualty that radiates from him immediately calms my nerves. "Marshall!" I whisper, and I run toward him. He turns around, takes a step in my direction and catches me in an embrace. I throw my arms around his neck and I feel his slide around my waist. He pulls me in and his lips brushing against mine make it feel like a whole kaleidoscope of butterflies is popping out their cocoons in my stomach. Then, he pulls away his lips and presses them on my head. He tightens his grip on my waist. "Hey Fi," he says, his voice muffled, "I missed you." I press my head against his chest. "We've literally seen each other no less than five hours ago, paste face." He lets out a groan and continues to murmur against my hat: "I don't care how long it's been bunny, it will feel like eternity when you're not with me, no matter if it lasts for two minutes or two million months." I chuckle into his plaid shirt. "You're a sweet paste face, Marsh. A very, very cliché one."  
His crimson red eyes catch mine again and he bends down to kiss my lips. Then, he pulls away a few centimeters and I find myself wanting to tuck at his plaid shirt for more, but as I feel his lips move toward my jaw and down to my neck and shoulder, his hands rubbing my back, the butterflies return.  
"As much as I like this, I think we got to go now," I mutter. He smiles into my skin and says: "What is it, does your ability to draw happy faces on walls decrease as it gets later?"  
I start laughing and we untangle ourselves from our embrace. I reach out for his hand and we keep staring at each other for another couple seconds. "Marshall?" I ask. His head tilts slightly to the left. "What is it, bunny blue?" My glance starts travelling down to my feet, but I make myself look him in the eyes. "Thank you."  
His forehead gets all wrinkly from confusion. "Thank you for what?" he says as he squeezes my hand. "Thank you for making me laugh when I really don't know if I'm going to be okay out there, and thank you for going with me, and thank you for loving me." I shed a single, lonely tear and he wipes it away with in his eyes the most loving look that's humanely possible. Or, you know, vampirely possible.  
"Fionna?" He asks, suddenly getting very serious. I let out a sound that's supposed to be a laugh, but seems more like a dying walrus, and say: "What is it, paste face?" His answer makes the cocoons in my belly pop again. "I want you to know that I love you more than anything in the land of OOO, more than anything in the world, more than anything in the universe." His hands still rest on my cheek from wiping away my tear, and I cup one with my own hand. Another tear escapes the corner of my eye. "Even more than the colour red?" I say, jokingly. He smiles. "A thousand times more."

 _Hi everyone!  
Welp, that took me some time… Sorry for that, I went camping with a couple friends, Wi-Fi nowhere to be found, and it took me somewhat long to finish the end of the chapter too.  
But anyway, wasn't that cute? I don't really have any further comments, but either leave a review or PM me if you have any questions! I'll reply to you personally and put it in the side note with the next chapter.  
Oh, and for your information: a kaleidoscope of butterflies is not only very poetic, but also actually the correct term to use when speaking of a group of butterflies.  
I hope you enjoyed it!_

 _xx - BM_


End file.
